Strategy maps

When contemplating to expand to a foreign country, businesses must decide on what will be their strategy, and that strategy might be the same or different from their local one depending on the targeted customer needs and the competitor offerings in that foreign country.

Business strategy for internationalization sits on top of the business strategy. Without the latter, any internationalization strategy will be baseless. And this because

  • The Strategy for internationalization answers to choices which country, which configuration and costs, which mode of entry, which scale, which time, which entry vehicle, whereas the second,
  • The Strategy, tells how you will play the game to win in the new market by supplying answers to choices like who will be the customer, what will be the product or service and how will the game be played to exploit the company’s Competitive Advantage.

To aid strategy formation, one very important tool is the strategy maps which are prepared in the context of competitive analysis and are shown in the figure of the post.

Their purpose is to help the company make a choice of how to position itself in the market it aims to operate. They show the positioning of the competitors and challenge the company to find a differentiated position by which to appeal to its targeted customers.

Such a differentiated position should not be the ultimate concluding choice at least not before passing it through two essential considerations:

  • Is the new position attractive to the target customers?
  • Is the new position feasible for the company to attain?

And it is only after answering yes to both the above questions, that the differentiated position becomes a strategic choice for the company.

NOTE:
(1) The above is a follow up to our post on “business internationalization – can it survive the black clouds?” at  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/can-business-internationalization-sustain-threat-black-panikos-sardos?trk=pulse_spock-articles and a response to queries that some of its readers raised.

(2) For further questions and information, you may communicate with the author and P&E Sardos Solutions Int. either by visiting their site http://sardossolutions.com/  or by email psardos@sardossolutions.com  or phone +357 99640912
Our company provides consulting and training in a range of business management fields including Strategy, Leadership, Leader-staff relations, Organizational development, Culture, Business internationalization, Lean systems, Productivity and efficiency.
For CY companies, in-house training may be delivered completely free of charge to the interested company in the context of AnAD.